HONG KONG (SE): In multi-cultural Sydney, Australia’s attorney general, George Brandis, told a Religious Roundtable on November 5 that there are inconsistent attitudes towards religious tolerance and freedom in the Land Down Under.

Speaking to a mixed interfaith group, the attorney general said, “Religious freedom is every bit as important as political freedom.”

HONG KONG (UCAN): Christians in the Zhejiang province of China, where authorities have been carrying out a massive campaign to remove the crosses from Church buildings, say they will remain vigilant amid signs that the hardline strategy could spread to other jurisdictions.

Although Christian leaders in the province say the campaign against the crosses has subsided since September, authorities across China have recently met to discuss the issue of illegal building structures.

HONG KONG (SE): The Communist Party of China is sending signals that it will intensify its control over the Catholic Church and other religions at a summit on religion that is expected to be held towards the end of this year.

It will be the first such gathering to take place since the current president, Xi Jinping, came to power in 2012.

YANGON (AsiaNews): A couple of days before departing for Rome, Charles Cardinal Bo, from Yangon, was asked by government officials not to use the word Rohingya when speaking about the Rohingya people with Pope Frances.

It was reported by Muzzimi News that officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs in the Union of Myanmar approached Cardinal Bo.

HONG KONG (UCAN): The parliament in Naypyidaw, the Union of Myanmar, passed controversial legislation championed by hardline Buddhist nationalists on August 21, raising fears authorities will have new tools to use against already marginalised minority groups.

Members of the parliament said that two proposed bills had been passed; one regulating religious conversions and the other an anti-polygamy bill.

Je Yaw Wu, a representative in the Upper House, confirmed that the parliament had passed the legislation.

Did the prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, Fernando Cardinal Filoni, really expect some official response from Beijing to his almost impassioned appeal for a reopening of dialogue between Beijing and the Holy See, or was he just flying a kite? (Sunday Examiner, November 4).

ROME (UCAN): A new report released on October 17 in Rome by Aid to the Church in Need on the religious freedom of minority groups in Asia says that persecution of Christians has continued or worsened in many countries in Asia during the past 12 months.

HONG KONG (SE): The prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples and former head of the Vatican China study mission in Hong Kong, Fernando Cardinal Filoni, has broken a silence on China that he has kept almost completely intact since Hong Kong-born Archbishop Savio Tai-fai became secretary to the congregation nearly two years ago.